I love the pictures in this---vivid, jewel-toned, with a retro style reminiscent of the Golden Books I read as a child---and the text is simple enough to be a great read aloud. But this is definitely not my favorite retelling.

From other versions of the tale, I remember a down-on-his-luck soldier, a kindly crone, an invisibility cloak, a sleeping draught, sinister princes...a world edgy with magic where wonders and horrors exist side-by-side. Brigette Barrager's reimagining may be gentler, but I rather doubt most children---closely attuned to the unknown, the fantastic, the wonder-full in this realm and that of their imagination---need their faery tales rendered entirely toothless. ( )

The art is perfectly lovely, but the original fairy tale has been stripped of everything that I enjoy so much. The lack of any sort of villainy here has dulled the story down, and makes the princesses seem insipid and lethargic (literally.) The illustrations may be full of whimsy, but the words itself are poorer for its absence. ( )

Summary: Twelve princesses are locked in a room every night but in the morning their shoes are worn to shreds. Their father, the king, wants to find out how that is possible and enlists help from a soldier returning from the war. He gets an enchanted cloak from an old woman and follows the princesses as they escape through a trap door and go out dancing with 12 princes. The soldier tells the king and the sisters confess, and the princes are cursed for as many times as they danced with the princesses.

Personal connection: I read another book that had the same premise as this book, and had also seen a Barbie movie with a similar storyline. I never knew it was based off of an older piece of literature.

Class use: This story was adapted from the Grimm brothers, so explore their stories and have students find a favorite and do a presentation. ( )

In my opinion, this was a great book. I absolutely loved the language and the illustrations throughout it. The author uses many higher level vocabulary, such as "proclamation," "examined," "researched," "explored," etc. in order to explain to the readers that all of the scientists were trying to solve the sleeping princess mystery. The reason that I love this vocabulary usage is because it not only adds to the story, but it allows for young children to ask questions, such as "what does this word mean?" This promotes higher level thinking when children are reading books for enjoyment. Additionally, I enjoyed the illustrations in the book because they were very colorful, detailed, and entertaining. When the princesses traveled through the forest of "shimmering, shining, and glimmering trees," the illustrations portrayed it just as it sounds. This is appealing for the readers eyes, and it makes the story easier to visualize. Overall, the big message of the story was that not all rewards have to be materialistic, rather some can be just a simple true love. ( )

I liked this book. The style of writing was very entertaining and the plot kept me entertained through the whole book. The writer included lots of dialogue to make you really feel like you were in the story trying to figure out why the princesses were always tired and their shoes were worn. It was entertaining when the writer said clever things like “They inspected and inquired, searched and researched, examined and explored.” “And, of course, they all lived happily ever after.” The writers word choice helped to keep me engaged the entire time. The plot was entertaining; trying to figure out why the princesses were so tired and their shoes were worn made you want to keep flipping the page. Pip was trying to win the heart of Poppy and in the end they got married. The main idea of this book is you don’t need to be a “…scientist, scholar, doctor, or detective…” you are still “…more clever and brave than all the wisest people in the kingdom put together…” ( )